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There was a knock on the door. Isobel stopped the paperwork she was completing, with her eyes still lingered on it. "What's up, Jubal?""Nothing, just in case you forget your appointment with your therapist at four." She looked up and raised her eyebrows. "Thank you for reminding me. I'm sure my memory isn't that terrible to forget my appointment at the same time every week." Seeing that he seemed to be stung by the impatience in her tone, Isobel sighed. "I'm fine, Jubal. You don't have to babysit me all the time, really.""Yeah, you are right." Having said that, the concern and sympathy in Jubal's eyes still remained. Proving she was fine, Isobel smiled at him till she watched him leave the office.
Since Jubal had left, Isobel didn't have to fake her smile anymore. She hated that look. She hated that look of sympathy and concern, which everyone had in the office, all the time, even ADIC had a much better attitude towards her, arranging her therapies himself and letting Jubal keep an eye on her, which made her feel uncomfortable and a little confused. Why should they feel sorry for her for an experience she didn't even remember?
Everyone was always careful towards her, for fear of saying or doing something wrong. Deep down in her mind, she rolled her eyes thousands of times. She is not a fragile doll made of glass, once not careful would be broken into pieces. She wanted to seek the truth, like a curious child with a strong thirst for knowledge, wanted to open that locked door; she was so angry and resentful of her team, who owned the key to the door but, under the suggestion of her therapist, had chosen to hide it away from her. They kept her off the stand, where they used photographs and other physical evidence of the crime scene to convict those culprits and make them pay. All she knew was that it was an unusual undercover mission which somehow went wrong, but that was it. Her body was covered with scars, but she couldn’t even recognize any of them.
That therapist, who did not approve of her idea, chose to revive her memory step by step through therapy. The preparatory work was so long and the progress was really slow, which she disliked a lot. Although her therapist repeatedly told her that memories were locked for a reason, which was the mechanism of the brain to protect herself. If long-term preparations were not made, triggering memory might be overwhelming at a time, which would cause emotional and mental breakdown. Everyone around her also hinted that it might be more lucky to some extent than unable to recall the whole thing, but she wanted answers to end inexplicable fear in her dreams every night.
The dusty memory was like a scar with a scab, knowing that it would be very painful to scratch, but she couldn’t help but think of the itch. She frowned, gathered her things, and got ready to go.
Isobel wasn’t aware of how long it took to open her eyes, which were then stung by the cold white light. She shut them close, tilted her head a little, and tried to reach out to wipe off the warm liquid left from her cheeks. However, she was restrained by the thick hemp rope that tightly held her. She let out a moan, the dull pain in her temples made her numb thought gear slowly rotate, beginning to search for fragments through her memory.
Well, the last thing Isobel could recall was that she was on her way to the clinic, driving, but that was all. Memories, you failed me again, huh? "Seems like somebody’s finally awake now." An unfamiliar voice came from the corner of the room. He walked over to her and unrolled the kit bag on the iron table beside her. "Don't worry, we have plenty of time." The tinkling of metal echoed across the empty room as he fiddled with his tools.
"No one knows where we are, sweetie. Time is not a problem here. We’re going to have a great time together. So talk." After a jingle of metal, she felt the cold metal knife slit her shirt and skin. She tried to retreat, but the struggle only worsened the pain in her tightly bound wrists, the ropes moistened with warm liquid. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Please let me go. I didn't know anything." He pinched her neck after an angry blow to her chin, tears mixed with blood dripping down her cheek onto his hand. Her vision faded as her sobs gradually diminished.
He shook his head, muttering, "I hope we can do better on the next one." He got up and walked to the other side of the room. With a bang, the door burst open and he was pushed against the wall as a crowd of people rushed into the room. "Isobel!" Jubal shouted, rushing to her.
"Isobel, such a beautiful name. Much better than Stacy, isn't it?" He gave her an evil smile, after one of his henchmen came into the room and whispered a few words to him. His hand gently stroked her cheek as more of them entered the room. "None of us will forget this lovely day, right? I-S-O-B-E-L?"
"Isobel, are you okay?" He squatted down and cut the rope around her leg with a knife.
"Of course, the position isn’t convenient for what we’re about to do next." She had a muffled cry as he slashed her calf with a knife, cutting the rope around her leg, blood wetting her trousers.
She jerked her legs together. "Isobel? Answer me."
"The show is on. I'm really looking forward to your reaction."
He moved around behind her, and the moment his hand holding the knife touched her wrist, she flinched fiercely, causing the blade to scratch her skin. "Don't move, it'll be all right in a minute." He frowned and fixed her struggling hands with the other hand. "Don't move. You'll hurt yourself, Izzy." She resisted even more.
"Don't move or you'll get hurt. There are so many of us who haven't started yet."
Jubal sighed relievedly after he had cut the rope without causing more damage to her wrist, when she suddenly lunged on the other side of the room. "Isobel, where are you going?"
"Where do you think you're going? You’re not gonna get out of here anyway."
She backed away until the cold wall hit her back. Everyone hurried to her. The suffocating whispers surrounded her.
Panic took over her, and she had nowhere to escape. Huddled in the corner, she froze as the crowd closed in on her.
"Please, I didn't know anything..."
Fear flooded over her. Isobel shook off his hand as Jubal tried to calm her.
"Isobel, it’s me, Jubal. You're safe now. We're taking you to the hospital."
She lost her mind.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed at the top of her voice, tears streaming down her face.
"Take a deep breath and calm down. You're safe now."
"Shh... Relax. Don't let your tears stain your beautiful face."
The paramedic took out a tranquilizer. "She's in shock. Hold her still. I'm going to sedate her."
"Hold still and this will hurt less."
The crowd closed in on her, grabbing her body.
"It's about time."
"NO!!" The needle pierced her skin, and she descended into the endless darkness.